Index system.



No. 761,422. PAT-BNTED MAY 31, 1904.

- P. W.- SOMMBR.

INDEX SYSTEM.

APPLIGATION FILED JAN. 2a. 1903.

no MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

",W/jn gan 5 m WASHINGTON, ERS co. PHOTO u THE NQREIS PET I v y No. 761,422. v .P. W. SUMMER.

' INDEX SYSTEM.

APPLIOATIONIIILED JAN. 2a, 1903. N0 MODEL.

PATENTE'D'MAY 31; 1904.

2 SHEETSSHEBT 2.

Patented May 31, 1904 A U IT D STATES j PATENT OFFICE.

PETER soMMER, OF'PEORIA, ILLINOIS.

"IND E X SYSTEM.

- SPECIFICATION formingpartof Letters Patent-1J0. 761,422, dated May 31, 1904. i Q l Application filed January 28, 1903. 1Seria1No. 140,831. (N model.) 1

To all whom it mar concern.- i

Be .it known that I, PETER W. SO'MMER, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Peoria,

in the county of Peoria and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Index" Systems; and I do'hereby oleclare that the following is a full, clear, and

exact description of the invention, whichwill enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. 1

This invention relates to ceTtainimprovements in card-index systems, and has for its object a combined alphabetical and numerical index.

The invention comprises record and guide cards, the guide-cards of which are provided with tabs on which is printed or otherwise arranged both a numerical and alphabetical.

index and on the body of the guide-cards in chronological order numbers which correspond to numbers on the tabs of the. record- .cards; and theinvention comprises other details hereinafter morefully described.

That my invention may be more fully understood reference is had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view showing a plurality of record and guide cards. Fig. 2 is aplan of a guide-card; and Fig. 3 shows an additional guide-card without tab, forming a continuation ofthe guide-card in Fig. 2.

Inthe figures, 1 designates a guide-card, and 2 a record-card. These cards are arranged substantially aslillustrated in Fig. 1',

where it is designed to place a series of record-cards in front of a guide-guard. The record-cards each have a tab, as shown at 4. For convenience, in Fig, 1 is illustrated five guidecards and record-cards in each, series, with numbers ranging from 1 to 20 on the tabs thereof, and the tabs on the guide and record cards extend slightly above the upper edgeof the same in like manner, as shown in the figures, for convenience in handling the system.

On the tabs of the guide-cards I have illus' trated or rather provided for the use ofan alphabetical and numerical index, as at 6.

These may be arranged as shown, with card number 1 havingthe letters AaAk and on the guide-card number'2 the letters Al-Am, and soon through the series, or lettered'and numbered, as may be most convenient. On the left of the guide-cards I have provided numbers in successive order ranging from 1 to' S10. The guide-cardis ruled in a suitable manner, and these numbers refer to the lines, as 1 2 3, &c. These numbers correspond with the numbers on the tabs of the record-cards, as will beshown'.

5 refers to a'second guide-card without-the tab and is used as a continuation of a guidecard with the tab and is riiled and -the lines numbered from fll to 20.? ,5 p

In operation we will suppose that 'a bookkeeper wishes to turn to the account of'John Adams. He Will turn to the guidecard Aa-Ak, where the name of John Adams will be found recorded on line 3, thu s in dicating that his record-card is number 1:3, 1 representing the guide-card number and 3 the record card number. The bookkeeper in assigning a record-card to the account of John Adams will place the guide and record card number on the upper righthand corner-of the record-card. This may be better understood by referring to the first guide-card in "Fig. 2 on line 1, of which appears the name of E. J. Abel, and in Fig. 1 is illustrated the method of assigning a record-card to E. J. Abel, with the number p 11 in the upper right-hand corner of-the card.

5 My object in placing both the guide and record cardnumber on the upper right-hand corner of the record-card is to enable the bookkeeper or clerk when filing the cards after working with them to file by the number only, paying no attention whatever to the alphabetical order when filing. This saves time, as itis easier to handle the card by number than by the alphabetical index, the alphabetical index, however, being necessary when looking for a card by the name" of a person.

A bookkeeper will soon. become familiar with the number of the different accounts. For instance, having an account'with Edw. Ahrens he will have occasion to refer'to the record-card from time to time, and the numberof theaccount will soon become memo- Too rized as 14:, 1 representing the guidecard number and 4 the record-card number, and with such memorized number it will not be necessary to refer whatever to the alphabetical index, and at the same time a person not familiar with the numbers may readily find the account by referring to the alphabetical index.

The present invention is designed to take the place of two systems of filing now in common use, the alphabetical and numerical. The numerical is preferred by many, as each account is given a permanent number, which the bookkeeper can locate from memory in many cases, although when the numerical is used it is necessary to have an alphabetical index. which must be first referred to in order to find the proper number of the account. The disadvantage of a numerical system as compared with mine is that persons not familiar with the numbers of the accounts must first refer to the alphabetical index, thereby doubling the work.

The use of an open and closed account in card-ledger systems will at once illustrate the desirableness of this invention, as'when an account is closed the card may be transferred to the closed-account drawer, the number on the upper right-hand corner of the record-card indicating the proper place of filing, and vice versa.

It is obvious that various changes may be made in the arrangement and application of this system, and I do not wish to be confined to such an arrangement as I show, as details may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention herein.

Having thus fully described my invention,

what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. A card-index system, consisting of a series of groups of record-cards, the cards of each group arranged in consecutive order, a series of guide-cards one being disposed in each group provided with a tab having arranged thereon distinguishable characters, one a number to designate the numerical position of the group and the other letters to designate the alphabetical position of the group, and each record-card of a group having upon its body distinguishing characters, one to designate the group to which it belongs and one to designate its position in its group, substantially for the purposes set forth.

2. A card-index system, consisting of a series of groups of record-cards, the cards of each group arranged in consecutive order, a guide-card for each group having numbers in rotation corresponding to the numbers appearing on the record-cards in its group, also a tab having arranged thereon distinguishable characters, one a number to designate the numerical position of the group and the other letters to designate the alphabetical position of the group, the record-cards of each group having upon their bodies distinguishing characters corresponding to the numerals 011 its guidecard and the numeral on its tab, substantially for the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereofI afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

PETER W. SUMMER.

IVitnesses:

WM. E. GETZ, WM. boMMER. 

